This will be a mega post. I’m sorry.

Whereas days 1 and 2 were touristy and was masterminded by the parental units, days 3 and 4 were completely orchestrated by me, so that means we went on a food pilgrimage.

First stop on the food nerd tour is Din Tai Fung. It Shanghainese style dumpling shop that was founded in Taipei. The owners fled the mainland after the civil war and founded the shop in the 1980′s. This place is most famous for its soup dumplings around the world.

From the outside, it looks pretty unassuming and small, but it’s actually multi-level and quite massive. The staff was courteous… overly so… it was a little disturbing.

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No self-serve vacation is ever complete without a one-day guided tour that brings you to places that all the tour buses go to.  We decided to do the generic tourist attractions on Day 2 with a Cantonese-speaking guide. I was much more interested in surveying more local cuisine, but to placate the parental units I succumbed to their demands for a typical Asian bus tour of the city and Taipei’s surrounding rural areas. I apologize, we’ll return back to the regular programming of mystery meats shortly.

Our first stop was to the Yehliu Geopark, a series of mountainous rock formations facing the pacific ocean. I hate to admit it, but it was very scenic. The decades of salt-water erosion have formed some brilliant rock faces.

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Note to self — If I intend on regularly blogging again, I actually have to regularly blog.

Job, done.

My parents decided that I needed to “expand my horizons”, whatever that means, so we hopped on a plane and headed to… Taiwan? I never realized expanded horizons are only a one-hour plane ride away.

I’ve never been to Taiwan, specifically Taipei, but all my relatives tell me it’s a haven for good food. That testimonial is good enough for me.

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